Hoops

Boomers 25-man Olympic prep squad named

Starting 5: Mills, Delly, Ingles, Andersen, Jawai
Bench: Crawford, Newley, Barlow, Nielson, Maric, Baynes and Drmic.

Starting 5 is certain although i can see Maric starting instead of Jawai. Crawford is in for his outside shooting and is better athletically then our other shooters, Hopefully Newley will bring a spark offensively off the bench and i take a youngster between hughwood, motum or a drmic and i think drmic is a future star.

Anderson won't start at centre, weak as piss as someone described aptly. He starts but with someone who rebounds and brings some balls. Bogut would have done nicely, but no. So it has to be Maric. He has been solid last few times out.

Mills/ Delladova
Newley/
Ingles/ Barlow/ Worthington
Anderson/ Neilsen/
Maric/ Baynes/ Jawai

The 12th player needs to be a 2/3 man, but they may take Gibbo or Greenwood (these two better at one spot) I don't know enough about the other young guys from college to confidently say one of them fits here. No AJ for mine as he is too soft and as mentioned we need Baynes to rebound and Jawai brings some x factor. Wortho is in between positions for mine at international level. Too small for the 4 spot and to slow for the 3. He brings experience and toughness though, real team guy.

agree, you would take Barlow over the college guys and Worthington any day of the week

Our bigs arent very good rebounders and none can block shots. i think the europeam teams like spain are going to hurt us inside. i think its going to be up to patty how far we go. we need to hit our outside shots if we have any chance. Newley needs to step up and be consistent along with Ingles and andersen.

Greenwood defintiely took a while to warm up, and then he hurt is ankle and played through it and still did well.

I would still not pick either this time around myself.

I like Drmic above Greenwood.

Not saying one of those will make it (they most likely won't), but if I had to chose I would do with Drmic.

I know he is playing at Boise State, but you can't deny his numbers from the recent season = 12ppg and 5rpg.

Greenwood really struggled this past year though

Brett Brown: "All of the athletes understand that we need to arrive into London with the best fitness base of the 11 other countries, that is our main goal."

Boomers aim to have 'best fitness base' in London

Given the amount of physical stuff they allow at internationals, I reckon Wortho will get picked because he can dish it out but still score as well

It is an interesting one...and given Ogilvy's injury battles and lack of game time, I think he is unlikley to make. He is very much a scoring big, hence the case for Jawai would be even stronger.

Thanks for compiling that list Naph. Apart from Mills and perhaps Andersen, it makes for pretty depressing reading though. All we can hope is that warming benches/ playing minimal mins has lit a fire under some of these guys and they go in to the Olympics determined to prove something.

I hope Jawai can make an impact. He's always had big potential, but thus far he doesn't seem to have the hunger to really get the most out of that monster frame of his.

I'd be going with the following at the moment:

Mills Dellavedova
Crawford Barlow
Ingles Newley
Nielsen Baynes
Maric Andersen Jawai

Instead of Barlow, you could go with Martin if he is fit enough, but he seems to have had some injury problems this year.

The final spot I'd probably give to the young guy who is most impressive in training camp. Particularly someone who shows they can shoot the basketball! I'm thinking Bose or even Drmic if they perform well.

I don't think I'd bother taking Wortho. He hasn't been great this past season and has never done much at international level that makes me think he will have an impact at this Olympics. Perhaps Wagstaff if Brown decides he needs that mobile forward, but I'm not convinced Wagstaff would make much of an impact at international level either. For that matter, with this teams shooting woes, Brown could do worse than to recall Oscar Forman.

I've been thinking Australia needs another state LC. What did that ad say? New Zealand. 100% there for the taking! :-P

If only Penney was born on this side of the ditch...

Some pretty decent players to choose from. Should be a strong squad if they gel and they can all be fit and healthy. Quite a few guys capable of shooting the lights out on any given night. Just a matter of them all doing it on the same night and a few of them in a row. Good range of bigs, athletic swingmen, quick guards, pretty jealous as a New Zealander. Every single guy on that list can play.

Hugh Greenwod should get a look in. He's a great talent and will have a big future. Should play him before the NBA take him and don't let him play!

Ogilvy's health is a concern and I think he will miss out as he has not played for a while either.

I love the fact our best performed US College players got invited even though Delly will be the only of them that makes it - a great experience and due recognition for how well they have played this year.

My team would be
Patty Mills - G
Matt Dellevadova - G
Damien Martin - G
Brad Newley - G/F
Peter Crawford - G/F
Mark Worthington - F
Joe Ingles - F
David Barlow - F
Nathan Jawai - F*
Aleks Maric - C
David Andersen - C
Aron Bynes - C


* if AJ Ogilvy isn't healthy.

Wow, great effort by our www.AussieHoopla.com friend Mitch Creek to earn a spot there... hopefully this entices 36ers to resign him a little quicker.

Remember to check our podcast with him discussing his season with Adelaide and winning the NBL dunk comp if they have one. http://www.aussiehoopla.com/category/podcasts/

I don't know if Crawford can make it, but he has worked his ass off this year... and Boomers need a 3pt shooter.

Great to see Nate Jawai in there, Coach Brown said some good things about him last week
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/olympics-2012/brown-slams-critics-after-boguts-olympic-dream-ends-20120422-1xf55.html
he should play a big part of this years team.